This Side of the Pond

It’s always nice to hear that one of my compatriots has been enjoying a dish from my homeland, even when they didn’t know that was where it was from. I’d thought the clue was in the name, but even a feature so defining doesn’t work if you’ve never heard of the person it was intended to honor.

I speak of Beef Wellington, one of the more refined of Britain’s culinary exports. It’s a luxury dish that wraps a tenderloin in duxelles, parma ham and pastry and serves it with a Madeira sauce, and it’s every bit as delicious as it is time-consuming to make.

Now, the story goes that this dish was named...